Greetings
January 2015/1
John F. Ryan, Acting Director
NEWSLETTER — JAMHWB
Public Health, DG Health and
Consumers, European
Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being
In this issue:

Greetings

News from work packages on:

Mental Health in all policies, Mental
Health and Work and Mental Health
and Schools
Background
Thematic
Sections
Commission

Mental health has become a
major concern for citizens, health
systems and many others in the
social sector, schools and at
workplaces.
Upcoming Events and Projects
The fact that 25 Member States
Greetings from the coordinator, José Miguel Caldas de Almeida, MD, PhD.
plus Iceland and Norway
We are very pleased to share with you the last information on the EU Joint Action
participate in the Joint Action on
on Mental Health and Well-being. In the last few months national and European
working
groups,
integrating
representatives
of
governments,
scientific
Mental Health and Well-being
shows their commitment to
investing in mental health and
organizations, professionals, users, families and other stakeholders, analyzed the
their wish to exchange on good
situation in Europe in each of the five areas of the JA. With the collaboration of
practices and identify concrete
experts, each Work Package collected information, reviewed the available
knowledge and resources resulting from other mental health projects in Europe
(toolkits, guidelines, databases, etc.), and analyzed previous initiatives in order to
possibilities to act.
A key output of the Joint Action
on Mental Health and Well-being
is to develop guidance on ways to
better identify the ingredients that should be taken into consideration to improve
improve mental health systems in
the effectiveness and sustainability of future initiatives. Working methods included
Member States; by early 2016, it
SWOT analysis (to evaluate achievements, barriers and challenges in MS), review of
will develop a common
literature, questionnaires, and interviews.
Based on this information, each Work Package drafted the recommendations for
action that will now be discussed with MS, EU agencies, other international
organizations and other relevant stakeholders. The first Report of the Joint Action
(on Mental Health at the workplace) was officially presented In Berlin, on November
29-30, 2014. Others will be presented in the next few
framework of action on mental
health which will be useful both
at national and at EU level.
The Joint Action plays the central
role in the implementation of the
European Pact for Mental Health
and Wellbeing. I wish it every
success in this endeavour.
months.
In this Newsletter you may find information about the
past and future activities of the Joint Action. Please send
us your comments and suggestions. They will be most
welcome!
José Miguel Caldas de Almeida
Editorial team:
Dora Gudmundsdottir and
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Nanna Vidarsdottir
Background and objectives
The EU Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being is a 3-year initiative that aims at building a
framework for action in mental health policy at the European level and builds on previous work developed
under the European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being.
Involving 50 partners representing 27 EU Member States and Associated Countries and 12 European
organizations, the Joint Action focuses on the promotion of mental health at the workplace and schools,
development of actions against depression and suicide and implementation of e-health approaches,
developing community-based and socially inclusive mental health care for people with severe mental
disorders, and promoting the integration of mental health in all policies.
Members States policy makers, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, users,
families and professional organizations are among the targeted stakeholders.
The Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being has received funding from the European Union in the
framework of the Public Health Programme and is coordinated by Faculdade de Ciências Médicas,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, and will end in January 2016.
The objective of the JA is to contribute to the promotion of mental health and well-being, the prevention
of mental disorders and the improvement of care and social inclusion of people with mental disorders in
Europe.
The joint action will address issues related to a) promotion of mental health at the workplaces and
schools; b) promoting action against depression and suicide and implementation of e-health approaches;
c) developing community-based and socially inclusive mental health care for people with severe mental
disorders; and d) promoting the integration of mental health in all policies.
This objective will be attained by establishing a process for structured collaborative work, involving
Member States and Associated Countries, EU, relevant stakeholders and international organizations,
leading to the development of an endorsed framework for action.
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Thematic Sections
DEPRESSION, SUICIDE AND E-HEALTH
Aims to develop a framework for action at the level of policies, infrastructures and interventions for prevention and
treatment of depression and suicide and mainstreaming implementation of E-health interventions.
The Joint Action will:
 address prevention of depression and suicide in different target groups throughout the lifespan
 identify solutions for implementing evidence-based interventions including e-mental health
 integrate e-health interventions into the package of health services and clinical practice of health professionals
Leader: György Purebl, Semmelweis University, Hungary. Ionela Petrea, Stichting Trimbos Instituut, the Netherlands
Countries: Hungary, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Slovakia and Sweden
Contact: [email protected]; [email protected]
COMMUNITY-BASED APPROACHES
Aims to develop a framework for action on community-based and socially inclusive approaches to mental health in Europe,
with a special emphasis on transition from institutional care to community care for people with severe mental disorders.
The Joint Action will evaluate progress made and share experience in community-based and socially inclusive approaches in
mental health in EU; develop a framework for action at EU and MS level to tackle challenges identified in this field.
Leader: JM Caldas de Almeida, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal
Countries: Austria, Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain and Italy
Contact: [email protected]
MENTAL HEALTH AT THE WORKPLACE
The main objective of this part of the Joint Action is to improve practices and policies that contribute to health at work in
the context of psychosocial stress including support for affected employees. In the center of our activities is the
implementation of a structured exchange of experiences between relevant stakeholders in the fields of “labour and health
policy”, “social partners” and “social security” across all participating member states.
In particular, our activities focus on the cross-sectoral co-operation, mainly involving stakeholders from the health policy
and labour policy sectors.
Leader: Gregor Breucker, BKK Bundesverband, Germany
Countries: Croatia, Malta, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Belgium and
Iceland
Contact: [email protected]
3
Thematic Sections continued
MENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS
Aims to strengthen the cooperation between health, social and educational sectors.
The Joint Action will:
 map the scientific evidence and the best practices relevant for the implementation of effective actions in the field of
mental illness prevention and mental health and well-being promotion, including education attainment, among children
and adolescents in Europe
 write a report with results from situational analyses and recommendation for action to promote mental health of
children/adolescents in EU & MS
Leader: Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata ‘Istituti Ospitalieri di Verona’, Italy – Massimo Mirandola
Scientific Coordinator: Regione Veneto, Italy – Lorenzo Rampazzo
Countries: Italy, Malta, Croatia, Iceland, United Kingdom, Norway, Slovakia, Estonia and Finland
Contacts: [email protected]; [email protected]
MENTAL HEALTH IN ALL POLICIES
Aims to assess and recommend policy processes, infrastructures and instruments that strengthen the links between
mental health and other policy areas.
The Joint Action will:
 define a set of commonly agreed objectives
 map the practices that takes into account the mental health implications of decisions in order to improve population
mental health and mental health equity
 identify the best practices and deliver a reference action framework to promote collaboration across sectors at EU,
Member States and regional level
Leader: Kristian Wahlbeck, Finnish Association for Mental Health, Finland
Countries: Finland, Norway, Iceland, United Kingdom, Scotland (UK), Portugal, Romania, Denmark, Lithuania and Austria
Contact: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Mental Health in all policies
Mental health and many common mental disorders are
shaped to a great extent by the social, economic, physical
and cultural environments in which people live. Therefore
effective interventions to promote mental health and
prevent mental disorders require reaching out to non-health
policies. Mental Health in All Policies Work Package is about
how to ensure optimal mental health impact of policies of
different sectors. The focus of the work package is at
In 2015 the Report will be disseminated and used to
promote good policy level practices and strategies how
to involve other sectors to get mental health and
well-being issues into decision making processes. Good
practices
will,
for
instance,
include
tools
for
mainstreaming mental health issues, tools for mental
health impact assessment of policy decisions and
strategies to create collaboration with different sectors
in mental health issues.
identifying, evaluating and disseminating good practices on
From the early results it is emerging that conceptual
how to take mental health and well-being into account in
clarity will be important in the implementation phase
decision making processes at population level. The aim is to
since the idea of Mental Health in All Policies is quite
present in the end of 2015 a Framework for Mental Health
new and unknown in many sectors and countries. It is
in All Policies as a useful tool for Member States at different
encouraging, however, that the attitudes towards the
levels of governance (local, regional, national).
concept have been mainly positive and its value has been
The work started in 2013 with a survey of good practices in
10 partner countries and the data collection was extended
to other Member States in 2014. The data collection
concentrated on getting information on intersectoral
collaboration practices with all kinds of policy sectors (such
as employment, environment, education, culture, etc.). In
the autumn of 2014 the reported practices were assessed
and good policy level practices for exchange between
Member States selected for the Report that will be
published in the beginning of 2015.
broadly supported.
The integration of mental health in all policies is in
progress in Europe. Even if the concept is relatively new
the practices have started to develop and in some
countries promising examples can be found. Actions for
mental health in non-health policy areas can be fostered
by demonstrating existing win-win situations.
- For further information, please contact:
Kristian Wahlbeck, leader: [email protected]
Johannes Parkkonen, researcher: [email protected]
- MENTAL HEALTH IN ALL
POLICIES
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thematic project of the Joint Action is the BKK Federal
Mental Health at Work
How can companies respond to the impacts of a changing
world of work on employee health, in particular in the
face of the growing importance of mental demands at
Association
in
Germany,
one
of
the
umbrella
organizations of the Statutory Health Insurance Funds.
Goal of the Conference
work?
How can both public health policy as well as labour policy
and the social security systems ensure a supporting
infrastructure for companies, especially for small and
medium-sized companies?
How can health policy and labour policy and the
respective
social
security
sectors
improve
their
co-operation in order to efficiently invest public resources
with a view to optimize economic competitiveness and
social cohesion?
How can labour and health policymakers collaborate to
ensure that Companies are enabled to manage the
challenges due to the consequences of demographic
change on the labour markets in the future?
This conference
prepared a structured exchange of
experiences to support the key stakeholders outside
companies to improve their cross-sectoral co operation. The
first step in this process was to share existing solutions and
identify the most important unanswered challenges.
In this way, the conference contributed towards improving
coordination and collaboration among those responsible for
mental health at the workplace like health and labour
policymakers.
The overall goal was to incorporate the results into a
European policy framework, promote mental health in its
variety and become part of a European frame of reference
for future measures in the field of public health.
be improved given the limitations of many health care
For more information, such as the presentations, the
conference and SWOT-analysis materials
as well as
impressions of the conference in the form of pictures, please
use the following links:
systems in Europe?
Presentations: http://ge.tt/51n7GG42
These and other questions are in the focus of the “Joint
Conference and SWOT-analysis materials: http://
ge.tt/35KUFG42
How can support for employees affected by poor health
caused among other factors by mental demands at work
Action on mental health and well-being”. A specific
project of this Joint Action concentrates on the promotion
of health in the context of mental demands at work.
Pictures: http://ge.tt/7XxrOG42
A key milestone of this Joint Action in this area was the
organization of a structured exchange of experiences
between participating countries. To this end the German
Government represented by the Ministries of Health and
of Labour and Social Affairs hosted a European exchange
conference which took place in Berlin from the 29th until
- For further information, please contact:
th
the 30 October, 2014. Main organizer and leader of this
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Gregor Breucker, leader: [email protected]
Mental Health and Schools
The Work Package 7 – Mental Health and Schools is
led by Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata
Verona (AOUI-VR) under the scientific coordination of
Regione Veneto Italy.
This Work Package aims to develop an action
framework for cooperation between the health, social
and education sectors for the promotion of mental
health and well-being and for the prevention of
mental and behavioural disorders, among children
and adolescents as part of a commonly endorsed
action framework on mental health and well-being in
Europe.
On October 6th and 7th, the 3rd meeting of the National
Coordinators of WP7 was held in Iceland. The meeting
aimed at fine-tuning the WP7 Policy Recommendations
before submission for approval to CHAFEA. The meeting
gave the opportunity to present in plenary the feedback
collected by each WP7 Partner during their national/
regional workshop and thus to re-adjust the Policy
Recommendations accordingly.
At the beginning of 2015, WP7 Partners will organise the
2nd editions of the national/regional workshops aimed at
defining the strategies for having the Policy
Recommendations implemented at national/regional
level.
The work started in 2013 with the creation of a WP7 The next meeting of the National Coordinators of WP7 is
common methodology for the review of scientific scheduled for July 2015.
evidence. This work included the review of the literature,
good practices and programmes/policies available at
For further information, please contact:
national/regional level of WP7 Partners. A review of
Lorenzo Rampazzo, leader:
literature available at International level was also carried
[email protected]
out.
In December 2013, WP7 Partners met in Malta to agree
the structure of the WP7 Consolidated Report on
Situation Analysis and to plan the definition of the WP7
Policy Recommendations.
In the first half of 2014, the Partners of WP7 have
finalised their country reports on situation analysis and
identified the two most representative examples of good
practices. This information formed the basis of the draft
Policy Recommendations of this thematic area.
In the period July to September 2014, WP7 Partners
organised the 1st editions of the national/regional
workshop. On this occasion, national/regional
stakeholders belonging to different categories (policy
makers of the 3 sectors: education, health and social;
representatives of NGOs, of GPs and paediatric
associations, of parents; children commissioners, etc)
were invited to provide feedback on the draft Policy
Recommendations.
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EVENTS WHERE JAMHWB WAS PRESENTED
December 2014
European Conference on Youth Health: From Continuity of
Psychopathology to Continuity of Care, Venice, Italy
November 2013
EFPSA Conference - Networking: From Neuron to Society,
Zuiderkerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands
November 2014
European Public Health Conference, Glasgow, Scotland
EU Funding Programmes in Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
WASP—World Association of Social Psychiatry, Jubilee Congress,
London, UK
October 2013
Presidency conference – Mental Health: challenges and possibilities, Vilnius, Lithuania
Workshop “Mental health promotion in schools and education”,
Brussels, Belgium
Together for Health Conference, Brdo, Slovenia
European Health Forum Gastein, Gastein, Austria
October 2014
ADOCARE conference at the European Parliament “Toward good
mental health care for adolescents in Europe”, Brussels, Belgium
Conference on Workplace Health Practices for Employees with
Chronic Illness, Brussels
Conference on Workplace Mental Health, Berlin, Germany
Task force health promotion (BGF-AG) hosted by federal ministry
of health, Berlin, Germany
Conference on Child and Adolescent’s Mental Health, Reykjavik,
Iceland
Symposium on The Human Rights of Persons with Psychological
disabilities. United Nations Human Rights, European Regional Office,
Brussels
September 2013
63th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, Izmir,
Turkey
XXVII World Congress of IASP, Oslo, Norway
September 2014
World Congress of IASP, Oslo, Norway
IASP conference organised for the World Suicide Prevention Day,
Rome, Italy
8th World Congress on the Promotion of Mental Health and the
Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, London, UK
June 2013
21st World Congress on Social Psychiatry, Lisbon, Portugal
XVI World Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain
XIII. National Conference of Behavioural Sciences. Debrecen, Hungary
August 2014
Nordic Conference on Public Health, Trondheim, Norway
8th Global Conference on Health Promotion: Health in All Policies, Helsinki, Finland
European Symposium of Suicide and Suicidal Behavior, Tallin, Estonia March 2013
Mental Health Conference, Budapest, Hungary
IACAPAP Congress 2014: International Association for Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions, Durban, South Africa
July 2014
Joint Meeting European Parliement and European Interest Group on
Mental Health, Well-Being and Brain Disorders, Brussels, Belgium
European Conference of Positive Psychology, Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 2014
14th World Congress for the World Association for Infant Mental Health,
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
May 2014
17th EPA Section Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry Meeting 2014,
Ulm/Neu-Ulm, Germany
April 2014
11th Conference of the European Academy of Occupational and Health
Psychology, London, England, UK
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